This week, voters in the United Kingdom went to the polls and decided strongly against a referendum on switching federal elections to alternative voting, or “AV,” also known as “instant-runoff voting” (IRV).

The bill changed from the version that passed the Senate. Police and firefighters can still collectively bargain for safety equipment, for example. And workers who strike cannot receive jail time. But other pieces were made even stricter, particularly on decertification and a bar on nonunion employees covered by union contracts from paying fees to unions.

Any bill passed into law in Ohio can be subject to a referendum, a “citizen’s veto,” which would be placed on the next statewide ballot. Union leaders and the Democratic Party have vowed to gather signatures for a referendum on SB 5 if it passes; they’d need about 300,000 names. The bill would have to be signed into law before April 6 for a referendum to be placed on the November 2011 ballot, which would include a bunch of citywide elections in Ohio. If the bill lingers past April 6, the referendum would go on the November 2012 ballot, which would include the Presidential election.

Add Rick Snyder to the list of Republican governors who over-read their mandate and now find themselves quickly unpopular. First it was Scott Walker in Wisconsin, then John Kasich in Ohio. Now Snyder, whose budget includes large corporate tax cuts while increases in taxes for the working poor, and who pushed through a strengthened set of laws for emergency financial managers, who would be allowed to void union contracts and even fire elected officials, sees his ideas get the thumbs-down from his constituents.

After World War II, the use of citizen initiatives dropped dramatically as booming populations made gathering sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot a more daunting task. During the ’50s and ’60s statewide ballot initiatives became rare, and much like today, many of the initiatives that did appear were thanks to big corporate spending. This all changed in the early ’70s, thanks in large part to the California couple Edwin and Joyce Koupal and their People’s Lobby.

For turn of the century Progressives, Populists and good government reformers, securing the right of direct democracy was often a top goal. Individuals such as Samuel Gompers, Robert La Follette, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Jennings Bryan all advocated for direct democracy through ballot initiatives and referendums. Because of efforts by Progressives, Populists, women’s suffrage advocates, Socialists, government reform advocates and organized labor, the right to direct democracy was secured in almost all Western states.

You may have to go down to the state level, but there are some Democrats out there with a spine.